“It is a tremendous, tremendous loss for those of us who played against Junior, have known Junior for many years,” WFAN’s Boomer Esiason said Thursday alongside morning show co-host Craig Carton. “I can only tell you that — with the exception of some of the times he ran into me on the field, which (were) pretty sudden and pretty violent — he couldn’t have been more of a gentleman and a nicer guy to me off the field.”

Seau couldn’t be saved after he was found Wednesday by his girlfriend, unconscious with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to police. He was 43.

Many have already questioned whether Seau’s career could have been a factor in his apparent suicide. Police said no note was found, leaving his family and friends at a loss as to what might drive the defensive great to kill himself.

“Another NFL great lost, and for what?” said former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas, according to the New York Daily News. “Maybe someone will start paying attention. I’m going to work with the PAST concussion program just to make sure it doesn’t happen to me.”

“When I heard it (the Seau news), I have to say in the past I would have been shocked,” Carson told the New York Post. “But I’m not shocked anymore.”

“I knew how I felt as a player, having those thoughts of suicide, and you’re going through something and it’s like you can’t really explain what you’re dealing with, and it’s neurological,” he added. “You have these deep bouts of depression, and people think you’re depressed because you’re not playing anymore. You’re depressed because you’re having neurological issues that are very difficult to describe.”